


Runaway

by Rehearsal_Dweller



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: I'm Sorry, I'm so so sorry, M/M, Spoilers for House of Hades
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-10
Updated: 2013-10-10
Packaged: 2017-12-28 23:35:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/998253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rehearsal_Dweller/pseuds/Rehearsal_Dweller
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a quiet moment, Percy seeks Nico out for a conversation, since they haven't really talked in nearly a year</p>
            </blockquote>





	Runaway

**Author's Note:**

> I am so, so sorry.  
> This is one of three of these I'm posting today and they're just steadily one worse than the next and I'm SORRY  
> I just couldn't not do this after what happened in HoH.

For the first time in a long, long time, there was a lull in the action.

Percy had been itching for a break for ages now, and now that he had it he was missing something.

Some _one_ , actually. He was sure he’d seen Nico on deck earlier, fighting between Reyna and Hazel. Come to think of it, he was pretty sure Nico had been avoiding him since – well, basically since this whole ordeal with the giants started.

Back before he got his memory back, Nico had been actively avoiding him. Percy could kind of understand that now. Kind of.

But even since they’d rescued him, Percy hadn’t managed a single real conversation with the kid.

“Hey, Hazel!” he called.

“Yes?” replied Hazel.

“You seen your brother?” Percy asked. Hazel nodded and pointed off down the hall. “Thanks!”

He started down the hall, but Jason stepped in front of him.

“Nico said he needed some time alone, you should probably check back in later,” Jason told him.

“C’mon, man, I haven’t even had a whole conversation with him in – in probably a  _year_. Get out of my way,” said Percy. He shoved past Jason and into the room at the end of the hall. “Nico?”

“Go away,” Nico’s voice responded.

The room was dark, and Percy was pretty sure that Nico was sitting on the floor somewhere in the far corner. He walked in that direction hoping that he might trip over Nico or something.

He did, and ended up sprawled on the floor.

“I said to go away,” grumbled Nico. He kicked Percy, but he clearly wasn’t aiming to injure, because Percy didn’t doubt that he  _could_  have, if he had been.

“No,” said Percy determinedly. He sat up and tried to look Nico in the eye (which was difficult in the gloomy room). “We haven’t talked in ages.”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” Nico said.

“Seriously, man, why are you avoiding me?” Percy persisted.

Nico didn’t answer for a minute. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Nico.”

“ _Percy_.”

“You’re doing it now, too,” Percy pointed out. “Is something wrong? Did something happen? ‘Cause if something’s bothering you, you can  _tell_  me. You know that, right?”

Nico … laughed? Percy was pretty sure it was a laugh, anyway. It sounded forced and awkward and not quite human, and suddenly Percy was just that much more worried about his friend.

“I really can’t, you know,” he said. “You’d – I can’t. Just leave me alone.”

“No,” said Percy again. “Just tell me why you’re avoiding me and I’ll go, alright?”

Again, Nico didn’t answer right away.

He didn’t laugh this time.

He just… sat there.

“I’m in love with you, okay?” he said finally in a small voice. “Since I was a kid. And I can’t – I -”

And then, without warning, Nico stood up and left the room at a run.

Percy, though momentarily stunned by the piece of information he’d just been given, was on his feet and at the door in time to see Nico caught by  _Jason,_  of all people, and pulled into a tight (if somewhat unwilling) hug.

Jason very intentionally caught Hazel’s eye and then nodded toward his quarters. She nodded, and the three of them – Hazel, Jason, and Nico – filed into the indicated room. Someone slammed the door behind them.

Dazed, Percy returned to the common area.

_Nico’s in love with me._

“Is something wrong, Seaweed Brain?”

Percy found that he couldn’t meet Annabeth’s eyes as he shook his head. “It’s nothing. I’m gonna go to bed. ‘M pretty tired.”

_How many times have I hurt Nico just by doing couple stuff with Annabeth in front of him?_

_How didn’t I_ notice _?_

_Oh gods, how didn’t I notice?_

He’d wandered to his own quarters and now was staring blankly at the ceiling as waves of guilt over how much hurt he’d clearly caused his friend washed over him.

_It’s not my fault. It’s no one’s fault._

_I should have noticed._

Nico had said he wanted space. For Percy to leave him alone.

Percy figured that was the best course of action for the moment. And maybe sometime… well, he didn’t know what. He’d do something.

He’d make sure that Nico knew that no matter what, Percy still cared about him.

Even if – even if he didn’t feel the same way.


End file.
